The instant invention relates to an automatic poultry breast processing machine adapted to receive from other processing operations forward bilateral poultry carcass sections and by means of employing one or more of the automatically operational optionally selective cutting stations provided, and processing method thereof, deliver therefrom various reduced carcass section portions consistent with meeting changing consumer demands in the providing of both pre-processed market pack and convenience food poultry cuts, wherein the machine hereof further provides both the mechanism and method for accomplishing "button cut" removal of whole wings from the forward bilateral poultry carcass section member, that is, a close tolerance severable removal of wings at the forward bilateral poultry section shoulder joint without an over-cut removal therewith of breast meat. In the foregoing regard, and hereinafter, it is to be understood the term "poultry" includes fowl of various types being but not necessarily limited to old and young chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, guineas, squabs, and the like.
Under the circumstances of current and increasing competitive conditions in the evolution and market development of new poultry preparation items, and especially with respect to such in the convenience and so-called "fast food" uses of chicken to provide a selection of pieces which are easily prepared and served and are not contaminated with either scraped or broken bone fragments while at the same time having been processed to contain the maximum amount of that particular premium cut of meat being sold, the continuing development of processing machinery to meet both the quantity and quality of product demand has been towards a reduction of the machine size and number of carcass segmentation operations to be performed thereby, and to process a preliminary reduced size carcass section at a moderate run speed thereby to maintain better close tolerance control in effecting automated severing operations and ultimately delivering a higher net output of higher grade segmented product at substantially reduced fixed capital and maintenance cost factors for machinery, and at no greater or a reduced labor cost per piece processed due to the increased net output method to yield a consistently higher quality product.
Exemplary of those prior art disclosures which teach poultry carcass section segmentation machinery employing moderate speed close tolerance cutting methods as heretofore characterized would first be that as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,344 to Phares et al dated May 8, 1973, wherein forward poultry carcass sections similar to those processed by the instant machine and method of invention, which have likewise been obtained from previous lateral bisecting of whole bird carcasses intermediately across the longitudinal axis thereof in other processing operations, are sequentially inward fed with the rearward ends thereof forward leading to a spike chain conveyor for delivery to a wing and breast saw combination adapted to remove both wings at the shoulder joint and thereafter divide the breast longitudinally followed by a spaced set of downwardly disposed parallel rotary blades for accomplishing longitudinally extending laterally spaced cuts equidistant from the spinal cord to effect removal of the backbone. Other secondary prior art disclosures also teaching poultry carcass segmenting machinery employing moderate speed close tolerance cutting means and methods would include U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,945 to Duncan et al dated Feb. 8, 1972, U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,083 also to Duncan et al dated Apr. 11, 1978, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,243 to Lewis dated June 2, 1981, all of which in one or more respects are functionally similar to but patentably distinguished from the machine and method of instant invention.
Additional prior art of a pertinent but distinguishable nature with respect to the instant invention mechanism to slidably engage and guidably move the respective appended wings outwardly from the shoulder connecting joint of the bilateral carcass section to thereby cause a dislocation thereof and in so doing further thereby effect separation of the wing-to-body connecting ball-and-socket joint and thus enable the clean clear close tolerance passage of the shielded rotary severing knives of instant invention teaching through stretched shoulder joint connecting tissue and tendon to accomplish the "button cut" method hereof for removal of whole wings would be as taught in Duncan et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,945 and Phares et al cited supra, and Martin et al in his previous coinventively issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,624 dated Apr. 12, 1977, particularly with respect to FIG. 15d and the corresponding explanatory text matter thereof. With respect to shielded rotary cutting blade severing of carcass section members, the prior art citing of Duncan et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,083 is pertinent particularly with respect to element 122 shown in FIG. 13 thereof. Also of a pertinent nature with respect to close tolerance shielded rotary blade severing, as applied to fish heading, would be the respective teachings of Bartels et al in U.S. Pat. No. 2,920,343 dated Jan. 12, 1960, and Schlichting in U.S. Pat. No. 2,961,697 dated Nov. 29, 1960.
One final teaching of a pertinent nature, particularly with respect to types of whole poultry carcass sectioning cuts and the incising methods therefor in market preparation thereof for ease of separation by the consumer for segmentation into either reduced carcass sections or further into individual pieces would be as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,222 to Strandine et al dated Mar. 9, 1976.
It should be understood that some of the features of the instant invention have, in some cases, structural and functional similarities to teachings separately set forth in the prior art disclosures heretofore cited and briefly discussed. However, as will hereinafter be pointed out, the instant invention is distinguishable from said earlier inventions in one or more ways in that the present invention has utility features and new and useful advantages, applications, and improvements in the art of automatic poultry breast processing machinery and method not heretofore known.